On September 26, 2024, an X user (formerly Twitter) tweeted and attached a video that a group had accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of using tactics to rig the just-concluded Edo governorship election.
Attached to the tweet is a 9-minute, 49-second-long video shows two Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa) Election analysts taking turns to read a press statement. As of the time of this report, the tweet has garnered over 13,000 views.
Claim: Video shows CDD Election Analysts accusing INEC of using tactics to rig the Edo governorship election
Verification:
On September 21, 2024, INEC conducted the governorship election in Edo state. The election was followed by widespread criticism and allegations of malpractice.
The CDD War Room found that the video attached to the tweet is a video of a press briefing given by the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD West Africa)’s Election Analysis Center (EAC) in Abuja, Nigeria. We can confirm that the press briefing was led by Prof. Adele Jinadu, the Chairman of the CDD EAC who called on Ms Seyi Awojulugbe to read the statement.
The CDD War Room, was present at the brief briefing and also perused the press statement released by the EAC. We can confirm that at no point did the Chair or any member of the EAC accuse INEC of using tactics to rig the Edo governorship election. The CDD EAC Chair was responding to questions asked by journalists about alleged discrepancies in some polling unit results, compared to results uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (iRev).
We can also confirm that all statements released by the CDD EAC, backed by situation reports received from observers, soldiers of mouth and staff in Edo state, did not at any point accuse INEC of using tactics to rig the governorship election. The statement however responded to some cases where there where there were discrepancies. The EAC was also clear that the CDD could not make any categoric statement about the impact of the discrepancies on the overall results, especially as it was some few cases that had been brought to the attention of election observers.
Verdict: FALSE
The CDD War Room can confirm that at no point, during the press statement, led by Prof. Adele Jinadu, and read by Ms Seyi Awojulugbe, did the CDD EAC accuse INEC of using tactics to rig the Edo governorship election. The statement, however, identified the lapses of INEC and some ways in which the political actors devised to undermine the democratic process.